Breaking

Katie Peters, center, the A’Salt Creek Roller Girls captain,
maneuvers her way around opposing blockers during a bout against
the Choice City Rebels on Oct. 22 at the Central Wyoming
Fairgrounds in Casper.

Passion for roller derby leads Casper woman to World Cup team

Bout with addiction

Katie Peters, center, the A’Salt Creek Roller Girls captain,
maneuvers her way around opposing blockers during a bout against
the Choice City Rebels on Oct. 22 at the Central Wyoming
Fairgrounds in Casper.

Joshua A. Bickel | Star-Tribune

Katie gives instructions to her teammates during the bout. As
captain, Katie often runs practices, drilling her teammates.
Leading to this bout with the Rebels, Katie admits she “worked them
hard.”

Joshua A. Bickel | Star-Tribune

Katie Peters, who goes by Vivien Leigh-Em-Out during roller
derby bouts, heads out of the locker room and back to the rink
after a break.

Joshua A. Bickel | Star-Tribune

The A’Salt Creek Roller Girls compete in a 2011 bout at Central Wyoming Fairgrounds in Casper. The team will face off Saturday against the Naughty Pines of Laramie.

The schedule goes something like this: Practice with the Casper
squad on Tuesday and Thursday. Another practice on Saturday in
Colorado Springs. Drive to Denver for a Sunday scrimmage with the
Rocky Mountain Rollergirls. Mix in trail skating and leg workouts.
Listen to a derby podcast. Scour the web for new techniques.

Katie Mae Peters discovered roller derby a little more than a
year ago. Since then, it’s taken over much of her life.

“‘I’ve just become obsessed with this,” she said. “And so derby
is my life outside derby.”

Her derby schedule — basically the equivalent of a full-time job
— wasn’t enough. So in June, she tried out for the U.S. Roller
Derby World Cup team.

Peters came up short at the tryout, but her devotion to the
sport earned her a spot on the team anyway. She’ll serve as one of
the club’s managers when it travels to Toronto this week for the
inaugural Roller Derby World Cup.

“It just hasn’t hit yet that we are making history,” she
said.

Derby addiction

Peters discovered roller derby in the green room at Stage III
Community Theatre. While waiting last fall for some fellow actors,
she spotted an article about the A’Salt Creek Roller Girls, a
Casper derby team that formed earlier that year.

The sport mixes speed with theatrics. Skaters whip around the
track, dodging opponents while trying to earn points by lapping the
other team.

Crashes are common. So are fishnet stockings and tattoos.
Everyone picks a nickname — even the coaches and referees. Peters
chose “Vivien LeighEmOut,” a reference to the actress who played
Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind.”

She started devoting hours to the sport.

“I don’t really have a lot of nonderby friends anymore,” she
said. “Well, no. I have a lot of friends outside derby, but I just
never have time to hang out with them. I work constantly. And when
I’m not working, I ... go do derby.”

Derby competitors tend to be intensely passionate about their
sport. Even in that context, Peters’ devotion stands out, said
Geoff Buck, a derby referee who goes by the moniker Bill Hand
Justice. (Say it fast.)

“She seems to have boundless energy for the sport that she
loves,” he said.

The World Cup

In June, Peters drove 14 hours to try out for the U.S. world cup
team in Waterloo, Iowa. Before leaving, she sent an email to Coach
Aaron “Buster Cheatin’” Goed, offering to help the team in any way
she could.

“It’s such a huge, monumental event,” she told him. “There is no
way I could pass up being part of it.”

The competition in Iowa was far more intense than anything
Peter’s had experienced in Caper. For three hours, Goed ran the
hopefuls through a set of taxing drills. They sprinted wherever
they went, stopping only once for a five-minute bathroom break.

At one point, Peters was so tired she couldn’t see.

“I’m blacking out,” she said. “I don’t know what is going
on.”

She nearly made the cut for a final tryout in Florida. But Goed
offered her a pretty sweet consolation prize: a job as team
manager.

Peters leaves for Toronto on Wednesday. She’ll serve as bench
coach for a Thursday exhibition bout and will manage the team’s
merchandise throughout the tournament. She’s also responsible for
player logistics.

“It’s really humbling,” she said. “I have this opportunity out
of all these people who’ve dedicated so much more time and energy
to derby than I have.”

Career opportunities

Sometimes at the start of bouts, Peters gets so nervous she
feels like she’s having a heart attack. So it’s hard for her to
imagine the pressures of competing in the Roller Derby World
Cup.

“What if you were the person who lost the World Cup for
someone?” she said. “There are thousands and thousands of people
watching and judging you.”

Still, she figures she’ll try out for the team the next time
around. But if she doesn’t make it, Peters said she’s content with
managing again, or maybe coaching.

In fact, she’d love to find a way to make derby a career. Her
mentor, a woman who goes by Bonnie D. Stroier, has coached all over
the world.

“If I could do what she did and turn it into a living,” Peters
said, “just live off derby, that would be really cool.”

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